MLS: Union settle for draw with FC Dallas

CHESTER — You’d be hard-pressed to find two teams walking off the pitch with more disparate mindsets Saturday at PPL Park.

On the one hand, you had 10-man FC Dallas, controversially denied an equalizer, then finally handed one deep into stoppage time in a 2-2 draw.

On the other, you had the Philadelphia Union, who despite roundly outplaying the third-place team in the Western Conference, had to stomach a draw that felt like a loss, minutes after thinking they’d earned the full share of the spoils.

“Extremely disappointed that we gave away two points in that fashion,” Union manager John Hackworth said afterward. “It’s a hard way to feel like you’ve lost a couple points, but I wouldn’t say we were without fault. … You have to play until the final whistle, and we didn’t do that.”

The ending was just another crazy installment of MLS action. It appeared that the Union had the game won in the 87th minute when substitute Aaron Wheeler, playing just his second league game with the club, headed home his first MLS goal to put the Union in front.

But that changed in stoppage time, briefly and then for good.

While Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath and his defenders miscommunicated on a ball in the box in the second minute of stoppage time, Perez pounced. The Panamanian captain rounded the goalkeeper and sent a low ball that appeared on replays to cross the goal line.

But as soon as it did — or didn’t — Sheanon Williams put his boot to it and cleared it out of harm’s way. The day was saved, for the time being.

“It was kind of a weird broken play, but that’s what their good at,” Williams said. “They don’t give up on plays like that, and they’ve got big bodies that flick balls on and we knew that going in. I just didn’t give up on the play. I just was there on the line. … I was just worried about getting the ball of the line. That’s the ref’s job. He said it wasn’t across the line, so it wasn’t across the line.”

But justice was served eventually, even if it was after the allotted five minutes were up.

Substitute Chris Albright committed a foul 40 yards from goal, giving Michel a free kick that allowed everyone, including goalkeeper Raul Fernandez, to come forward. MacMath got a hand to the ball, trying to catch it rather than punch it, but appeared to be impeded in the air by sub London Woodberry.

In the ensuing scramble, Perez got clear of his marker, David Ferreira played the ball to the far post and Perez roofed a shot past three Union defenders standing helplessly on the goal line.

The finish left no doubt, but it was the only circumstance surrounding the goal for which that was the case.

“They put the ball in the net, and we should’ve won the game,” MacMath said. “… Absolutely I thought it was a foul being hit, and then also I was dragged down by someone and I wasn’t able to get to the second ball on the ground.”

“You’re going to get me in trouble,” Union striker Jack McInerney said. “It is what it is. Everyone saw it but the one person that matters.”

The late goal overshadows the heroics of Wheeler, who was substituted on in the 79th minute. Six minutes later, he had what looked to be the crucial breakthrough.

With the Union streaming forward after Je-Vaughn Watson was shown a second yellow card for a horrific dive at the edge of the penalty area in the 68th minute, Wheeler made no mistake on his chance. Inexplicably unmarked by Dallas in the box, Wheeler, who the club has been trying to convert to a central defender to boost their thin backline, rose to meet a cross by Williams that was inch-perfect. The 6-4 forward, who spent last season in the Finnish second division, made no mistake, burying it in the back of the net.

“I guess it’s what you would expect as a prototypical goal from a center forward,” Wheeler said. “The ball comes in, and you tuck it away with your head. It felt good, I can’t lie, but my head’s not on cloud nine or anything right now.”

In a hectic first half, it was the youthful defenders, including Williams, taking center stage. Amobi Okugo, who was unmarked in the area on a throw-in by Williams and sent a strong downward header that left Dallas goalkeeper Fernandez no chance.

But the goal was pegged back just three minutes later. Off a set piece, young American defender Walker Zimmerman simply outmuscled Ray Gaddis on a free kick from Michel from about 35 yards out. Zimmerman thumped Michel’s curling drive toward the far post, leaving MacMath rooted to the spot.

The Union had a chance, somehow, after Perez’s goal, getting a free kick near the corner flag as time expired. But the chance came to nothing.

The draw extends the Union’s unbeaten streak to four games, its longest since 2011. But they miss a chance to win a third straight game for just the second time in franchise history.

With a pair of road games at Real Salt Lake and Houston looming this week, Perez’s casts a much different tenor over the recent three-game home stand.

“No,” said Hackworth quite bluntly if four points from their last two games was enough for the Union at home. “Cleary our goal, and we feel like playing at home, that we could get six points here. We knew it was going to be extremely difficult, especially at the start of it because you never know what could happen. But we clearly felt like we should’ve gotten six points out of it.”